MY FAVOURITE WRITER

Ernest Hemingway was one of the best known American writers. At the pinnacle of American realism are names such as Theodore Dreiser, John Dos Passos, John Steinbeck and also Ernest Hemingway. He belonged to the group of writers and artists that called themselves "the lost generation". In 1954 H. was awarded the Nobel Price for The Old Man and the Sea.

He was born in 1898. His native city is Illinois, but he lived also in Cuba and in Paris. Apart from this he undertook many expeditions to Africa.

He worked as a newspaper reporter. During the First World War he served in a hospital unit. During the Spanish Civil War he remained in Spain as a war correspondent.

Hemingway´s work includes a social critique and the atmosphere of public life. He tended to naturalism. He used a language that was concise, understandable as well as literary. His books are characterised by frequent monologues.

The Old Man and the Sea - the setting of this novel is Cuba, the city of Havana and later on the sea in the Gulf of Mexico. The action covers a very short period of time.

The action concerns an old Cuban fishmen - Santiago who went out to sea to catch fish. Manoli is the boy who used to go with him as his helper. For 40 days they had no luck, they didn't catch even a single fish. For this reason the boy's parents forbade him to go out to the sea with the old man any more. Santiago had to catch fish on his own.

One day he recognized that it's exactly 84 days since he last caught a fish. So he went fishing far way from the coast. Suddenly something bit. It was a big fish that dragged the old man along the sea with it for several days. But Santiago won.

On the way home, sharks swam by the ship several times and ate the fish. Only a skeleton of the big fish remained. The boy was sad at the bad luck of his friend so he decide to join him at sea again.

During the fishing Santiago thinks about life, about Manoli, about his big fish - he likes it and he talks with it.

Characterization:

Santiago - experienced fismen, tenacious, courageous, relentless, untiring, physically and mental strong men, able to fight to the last gasp

Manoli - faithful and devoted helper at fishing

Idea or "message" of this book - the non-passing of human life, man can be destroyed but no defeated. The author pointed out the human dependence on nature and the mutual permanent struggle between these two.

- consideration about heroism of a man, the import of our life and luck isn't fortune or earnings but it is our satisfaction

- another book - For Whom The Bell Tolls, Goodbye, Army

Vocabulary:

concise - stručný

tenacious - houževnatý

courageous - odvážný

relentless - vytrvalý

untiring - neúnavný

faithful - věrný

devoted - obětavý

non-passing - nepomíjivost

fortune - bohatství

earnings - zisk